


Not Like the Plague

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen, Zombie Apocalypse, rated T for thematic elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-26 22:06:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18725926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "Because every fandom needs a zombie apocalypse au, amirite?All over the world, people are dying. And - whether the result of some horrid disease or cruel, black magic - they are returning to life, but not as they once were. At MiM dire request, The Guardians follow their soul duty - to protect the children of the world. But the numbers of hordes are increasing every minute, and their powers are slowly draining. Pitch’s powers drastically fluctuate - people’s fear continually rising as they flee from their home and cities, but simultaneously dropping as they are turned one by one.The spirits watch in horror as their world slowly falls to ruin and death.And are the Guardians - with their magical powers and supposedly immortal lives - immune to whatever infects the people of the world?(+ Bonus if they have a serious emotional reaction to seeing dead children. Jack with Jaime? Bunny with Sophie? A tiny, baby zombie?)(++ Extra bonus if the story DOESN’T end happily ever after mwahaha...[cut for length]"Sandy’s tasked with watching over an unstable Pitch; Pitch tells him what he thinks of the zombie apocalypse, and an unusual plan is suggested. No bonuses.





	Not Like the Plague

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 7/22/2015.

“It is not like the plague,” Pitch said. “I remember the plague.”  
  
Sandy nodded. The others had agreed that he should keep watch over Pitch; Pitch had begged for Sandy to keep watch over him, when he arrived in their midst, powers and form unstable. So, now, he sat beside Pitch in a small room at the North Pole, chosen because the long night would keep him more comfortable than somewhere with an ordinary cycle of days. And to think! The Guardians concerned for Pitch’s comfort! It would have been almost unimaginable a few short weeks ago, but more unimaginable things had happened in that time.  
  
“The plague was just a disease. People…were not unfamiliar with disease and the death it brought.” Pitch fixed Sandy with feverish eyes. His hair fell lankly around a face that slowly shifted its shape, though not so far from Pitch’s preferred form as it had when he had arrived. Either the rest was doing him good, or the amount of fear rushing through him was starting to stabilize or decrease.  
  
Sandy hoped it was the former, but only because he could not comprehend how anyone could begin to get used to what was happening out in the world.  
  
The dead were no longer staying dead. It had been noticed first in many, many hospitals. After a few minutes of death, the deceased would rise up again, bent on killing. They were faster and stronger than they had ever been in life, and they acted with unrelenting viciousness. Their numbers spread all too rapidly, and the initial wave included too many doctors and nurses. Death was no longer at a comfortable distance from anyone. The only way to stop them was total dismemberment.  
  
Humans, who could die, and thus swell the ranks of their enemy, could not combat the threat effectively.  
  
The Guardians knew they had to do something before despair and the population decrease sapped their powers too much for them to help anyone.  
  
And that’s where they were, right now, while Sandy did his part from the Pole. He reached out to every living mind he could, and when he felt any moment of death, he told one of the other Guardians in the midst of their ongoing battle.  
  
Often, they were fast enough to chop up the body before it started moving again. To chop it up and take it away. Sandy shuddered, thinking of the place where they took the bodies. They could be stopped from killing if they were dismembered, but they could not be stopped fully by anything. In a distant part of the Sahara, now, there were writhing pits of only legs, only arms, only heads, only torsos.  
  
When Pitch spoke again, Sandy was all too glad for the distraction from that image.  
  
“This isn’t like the plague because the adults are more frightened than the children, now.”  
  
Sandy looked at him sharply and shaped a question mark above his head.  
  
“That’s why I’m…not well. This doesn’t fit any of the stories the adults have for this situation. Because it doesn’t spread like a disease. As if any disease could reanimate a corpse. Children…they’re terrified because the dead rising is terrifying on its own. It doesn’t matter that it’s not meeting certain expectations. And they have an explanation.” He pulled his blankets more tightly around him. “It’s not something they’ve been telling the adults, and it’s been growing because…because of you Guardians. You’re not hiding as you fight. I understand. You need as much belief as possible when there are fewer and fewer living believers every day. But. What the children think is that the dead are rising because of bad magic.” He paused and Sandy waited. “It makes sense. It all started too quickly, in too many places at once, to be any kind of disease, or…I don’t know, technology gone wrong, nanobots, I think, is one adult explanation. But then why would it affect only the dead, and all the dead, no matter how they died? It’s black magic. Children see the Guardians and they believe you can stop it. But you can’t, can you?”  
  
Another question mark from Sandy.  _Why not?_  
  
“Because you’re too busy saving lives to find whoever cast the spell and break it.”  
  
Sandy nodded slowly. He asked Pitch if whoever cast the spell might be afraid of something.  
  
“Probably,” Pitch said. “But what does it matter? You want me to find them? I don’t have enough control right now to feel anything but a sea of unnatural human fears.”  
  
You’d have enough power if you became a Guardian, Sandy told him.  
  
“I can’t be sincere for the whole oath even if that was a serious offer,” Pitch said.  
  
Sandy tilted his head to the side. They might be able to use a different oath.  
  
“You couldn’t take it back,” Pitch points out. “I’d always share your power. It would be harder to beat me, and I don’t plan to stop being the Boogeyman, so you’d still have to fight me. It wouldn’t be wise to open that door.”  
  
Sandy asked him why he was giving him all these warnings.  
  
“Well, I don’t want you to blame me for things you didn’t understand about this colossal mistake. I like to be blamed only for things I’ve actually done. It warmed my heart a great deal when you didn’t blame the zombies on me.”  
  
Sandy smiled a little. What if we still asked you to be a Guardian?  
  
“And I suppose I couldn’t really say no, since if the dead keep rising and killing everyone, I’ll fade away just the same as you.” He bared his teeth. “I’m going to still be prickly about the way that you’re only asking me in dire need.”  
  
I don’t think anyone expects you to be amiable, ever.  
  
Pitch laughed a little. “As long as that’s clear. Well. I look forward to seeing you argue with the others, if nothing else.”  
  
Sandy quickly raised his eyebrows. Just you wait. You’re going to save the world. 


End file.
